


it was in every word somehow (and i was in return so allowed)

by vivahate



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Black Paladin Lance (Voltron), Cuddling, Established Relationship, Fix-It, Fluff, Kuron is Shiro (Voltron)'s Clone, M/M, Post S4, Season 4 Spoilers, he's only mentioned this is the aftermath
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-14
Updated: 2017-10-14
Packaged: 2019-01-17 08:25:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12361623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vivahate/pseuds/vivahate
Summary: His mind is still reeling from the recent events, and his body is still reacting to the shock of it all, to the sheer relief of having Keith back with them, safe and sound. Lance swallows hard, because it’s too hard to think of - everything he could’ve lost not so long ago, and he closes his eyes as he carefully turns to press a kiss into Keith’s hair.The small hitch of breath he’s greeted with makes his resolve all the bolder. He is never letting this boy go ever again.





	it was in every word somehow (and i was in return so allowed)

Keith is exhausted. That much is plainly obvious.

 

He’s in the common room, settled comfortably on the couch with his legs folded underneath him. His hair’s a disaster, strands of black sticking out messily in all directions: it’s clear he hasn’t even bothered to fix, let alone brush it. Tiredness seems to be radiating off him in waves and Lance’s pretty sure he wouldn’t have even gone near food if Allura hadn’t insisted on all of them having a joint breakfast.

 

To be fair though, Lance feels quite drained himself. After confronting Shiro’s clone, yet another close call and the fact that they’re in the middle of a _war_ , he’s pretty sure the bone deep tiredness he’s feeling is popular among all the residents of the castle. And the emotional roller coaster of a conversation they’ve had this morning doesn’t help either.

 

He does wish they’d had one sooner though. Addressed and goddamn it _noticed_ that Keith’s shtick for going headfirst into danger was not so much a result of his hot temperedness as much as his complete and total disregard of his own life and his tendency of self-sacrifice. As if his life is something disposable, something to be discarded easily without a second thought.

 

It took an evil clone of his brother and another mission with the Blade of Marmora in action for all of this to come to the surface. Actually, come to think of it, Lance can’t wait till the blades get here to deliberate about their future plans: he would _love_ to have a few words with them and their so called efficient battle strategies and how it all only pushed Keith towards his breaking point.

 

Victory or death his _ass_.

 

“It’s just not the kind of person you are, Keith.” Allura had said after Keith’s billionth apology for not heeding her advice to leave the Marmora sooner. “You are not one to leave people behind and I couldn’t stand the thought of _you_ being the one in danger. I can not lose any more of my family.”

 

The general consensus of the talk had been clear. Like hell are they letting their Keith go through anything like that ever again.

 

Speaking of Keith. He’s a rumpled, exhausted mess, still looking pretty roughed up but much healthier than the night before and more at peace than Lance’d seen him in a long while. And yes, him wearing Lance’s jacket instead of his own does make a pleasant addition to the image, and Lance is only human and even he can’t resist the adorable sight of his boyfriend in his too large jacket for too long.

 

So he feels that he can’t be blamed for immediately taking his chance and swiftly curling up next to Keith, sneaking his arms around the boy’s smaller frame.

 

Which works perfectly because apparently Keith’s been looking forward to it as well: the little sigh that seeps out of him is tired but so obviously happy, and it only motivates Lance to pull him closer until Keith’s head is resting on his shoulder.

 

“Hey.” Lance murmurs and doesn’t pay much mind to how rough he sounds.

 

“Hey yourself, team leader.” Keith says, his voice gentle, and Lance can feel him smile against the side of his neck without even having to look.

 

Right. That’s a thing now too. The Black lion had chosen him. He feels a surge of happiness wash over him at the memory of how incredibly supportive and proud everyone had been. How supportive Keith’d been and how according to him that’s exactly how it should’ve been from the very beginning. But Lance is content with the way things had been all the same. He’s sure if he’d got to pilot Black just like he’d dreamed to all those months ago when Shiro’d first disappeared, he wouldn’t have had half the courage and confidence to do it that he has now. Too much has changed between then and now. Too many things are at stake. Most importantly _he_ has changed. And he’s got one hell of a right hand man by his side too.

 

Right now though he’d much rather not think about any of that. He has a considerable amount of cuddling to catch up on. And call him weak but Keith’s warm presence is already doing funny things to his stomach and there’s very little in the world that he could be tempted to prefer over this. That day’s conversation had indeed been intense, tears were shed, hugs exchanged and ironically enough Lance’d been the one to miss out on being physically close to his own boyfriend, surrounded as Keith’d been by everyone from their little makeshift family.

 

(And okay it’s not like Lance and Keith don’t do their fair share of talking and hugging all the time, but still.)

 

Hunk’d been glued to Keith’s side through the entire thing, his presence a comfort Keith’d not been used to having, but one he was eternally grateful for by the relaxed look on his face. Keith’d been surrounded by nothing but death and destruction for too long. It was high time they remedied that.

 

“When you’re feeling up to it, I can show you the new trick I got the training bot to do! Only took a little bit of meddling but oh man you’re gonna love it!” Hunk’d tried to sweet talk his way into spending more time with Keith and Lance had barely been able to hold back his amused laugh at Keith’s rapid nodding of agreement. The yellow paladin could’ve asked him to gallivant into another space monster’s stomach and Keith would’ve been positively ecstatic at the mere prospect of hanging out with him.

 

At present, Keith shifts a little in his place to rub tiredly at his face, which causes Lance to frown slightly.

 

“Are you uncomfortable? Do you need anything? A pillow? A blanket?” Lance asks worriedly but Keith’s already shaking his head before he’s even done rambling.

 

“No, no. I’m okay.” Keith’s voice is barely a murmur against the side of his neck. “You’ve done so much for me already. I – it means a lot to me, Lance. Thank you.”

Lance swallows hard, barely able to cope with how genuine, how achingly honest Keith sounds. He’s tempted to tell him that he doesn’t need to keep thanking them for as little as looking out for him – and for anything at all really – that’s just how being a part of family works, not to mention what kind of boyfriend would he be if he _didn’t_ do all of that and more. He wants so badly to hold him by the shoulders and tell him that he deserves this and so much more than he can possibly imagine or feel like he deserves. Wants to repeat it all countless times until not a trace of doubt is left in Keith’s mind.

 

Small steps, Lance reminds himself. They’ll get there. Keith’ll get there. He’s opened himself up so much already. Has let them see some of the most vulnerable parts of himself and the ugliest of his fears. Small steps.

 

So what Lance does instead, is press a bit closer and answer, heartfelt, “Any time, Keith.”

 

Keith’s looking at him with that far too tender look again, and seems about to say something when Pidge strolls into the room with a spring to her step. Her mood only seems to elevate when she spots Keith curled up on the couch and they exchange waves and affectionate smiles.

 

“Matt’s being creative in the kitchen.” She announces and then frowns, looking uncertain, “He’s making ice-cream?”

 

Ketih barks out a small laugh at that. “You don’t sound very sure.”

 

Pidge rolls her eyes, but smiles anyway at the reaction she managed to pull from the red paladin. “Fine. He’s _trying_ to make some anyway. You should join us. He might come up with something edible.”

 

Lance glances down at Keith. His nose is still brushing against Lance’s neck and it takes everything he has not to shudder bodily at every breath Keith takes. He does tighten his grip on the other boy though, pressing his face further into Keith’s dark hair. He feels too warm, too comfortable to move.

 

“Maybe in a bit.” Lance tells her and knows he said the right thing from the contented sigh Keith lets out which seems to come from deep inside him, before allowing himself to lean his weight a bit more against Lance. And Lance can hardly cope with all the emotions Keith’s body language seems to emit. Trust. Safety. Love. Yeah, _definitely_ not moving any time soon.

 

“Sure.” Pidge says easily and she’s almost out the door when she turns back towards them, eyes sparkling with mischief. “By the way. Nice jacket Keith.”

 

Lance sputters out an indignant “Oh, lay off!” at the same time Keith murmurs a quiet “Thanks.” and Lance just about _dies_ on the spot because seriously who allowed this boy to be so sweet and mess with his heart like that? His chest is aching and from the way Keith’s eyes skitter away in embarrassment but he still smiles, pleased and happy as if Lance is the very last of his wishes to come true, Lance is positive that Keith’s chest must be aching the same way his does, bosom filled with something so light and incredible he fears to name it – and yet Lance’s selfish enough to hold on to it anyway. His mind is still reeling from the recent events, and his body is still reacting to the shock of it all, to the sheer relief of having Keith back with them, safe and sound. Lance swallows hard, because it’s too hard to think of - everything he could’ve lost not so long ago, and he closes his eyes as he carefully turns to press a kiss into Keith’s hair.

 

The small hitch of breath he’s greeted with makes his resolve all the bolder. He is never letting this boy go ever again.

 

“’Course the jacket’s nice.” Lance says, lips moving against Keith’s temple, voice barely audible, as he turns his hand to fit their fingers together. “It’s made of boyfriend material.”

**Author's Note:**

> since the kuron theory was neither confirmed nor denied in this shitseason i'm still on board with it. this was entirely self-indulgent, i'm just trying to cope okay


End file.
